Be Careful, Scum Dad! Mommy Is Back!
Chapter 404 Are You Safe?

Chapter 404: Chapter 404 Are You Safe?

The sound of seabirds came from outside the window.

Lu Xining watched it glide freely at low altitude and thought of the two carefree years she and her daughter had spent in Yunqiao Village.

Those two years.

It had always been Fu Junhang and Haozi secretly supporting them.

It could be said that without those two, her and her daughter’s life wouldn’t have been so free and easy.

Lu Xining turned to meet Shang Lvxing’s gaze and said, "I want to see Haozi."

In her cold and distant demeanor, there was now an unyielding toughness, clearly indicating she had discovered something.

Lowering his eyelids, he glanced at the fingerprint gloves she had placed on the table without much excitement, his eyes momentarily flickering with an emotion hard to discern.

Danrus, like Meng Lai, was a lecherous man, and obtaining his fingerprints was easier than that of Yilijite and Rexiva, though it wasn’t without difficulty. For this, he even lost an informant.

Shang Lvxing hadn’t originally felt urgency, as now Lu Xining was aboard the Royal Cruise. Unlocking the secrets within the "Heart of the Deep" was only a matter of time.

But watching Lu Xining getting closer and closer to Cheng Cang made him fear that his place in her heart might diminish further. The rapport he had painstakingly established through her mother was something he wouldn’t allow to be lost to chance.

Moreover, there was Ji Muye, a man openly coveting her.

This man had never hidden his intentions toward her. With three children between them, Shang Lvxing couldn’t suppress his growing anxiety.

Today he brought Danrus’s fingerprint gloves specifically to advance the agreement they had made between them.

Shang Lvxing sighed and said, "...All right."

Moments later, Lu Xining received an anonymous call.

Her eyes darkened; it wasn’t that Shang Lvxing had prevented Haozi from contacting her but rather that Haozi himself didn’t want to reach out.

Lu Xining turned to Shang Lvxing and Cheng Cang and said, "You both should go rest now."

She was issuing an eviction notice.

Cheng Cang, now deeply confident in Lu Xining’s skills and character, rose without hesitation to leave.

Noticing Shang Lvxing remaining seated, he stepped forward and said, "Mr. Shang, I happen to have something I’d like to discuss with you. Would you mind if I stopped by your room for a chat?"

Shang Lvxing said coolly, "Not at all."

He took one last look at Lu Xining’s retreating back. She was heading to her room to take the call, and he couldn’t help but remind her again, "Don’t blame him. This time it was I who didn’t let him contact you. Haozi still cares deeply about you and Nuonuo. If there’s anything..."

"Shang Lvxing, I’ve known Haozi for a long time." She turned her gaze to meet his eyes, showing none of the anger that usually accompanied a rash confrontation.

Fearing that he might disrupt Lu Xining’s dealings, Cheng Cang quickly pulled him away.

The sea breeze stirred the white curtains of the bedroom’s floor-to-ceiling window. Although the outside was bathed in warm sunlight, an inexplicable worry began to spread from her heart to every fiber of her being.

It had been a long time since she felt so unsettled.

Confirming the two men had left, Lu Xining shut the bedroom door.

She quickly sat on the sofa, opened her laptop, connected her phone, and then answered the second call that came through.

Lu Xining: "Haozi."

Without a shred of doubt, she already knew the identity of the caller.

A tense deep breath came from the other end of the line.

Haozi: "Sister Ning, I’m sorry."

He knew very well that one reason Lu Xining had boarded the ship was because of him.

It was he who had led her step by step onto the dangerous Royal Cruise.

Lu Xining gazed out at the vast blue sea, where foolish seabirds occasionally collided with the ship’s railings, issuing muffled thuds.

"Haozi, is there something you want to tell me?"

Even now, she was unwilling to believe that Haozi would betray her, that he would stand on her opposing side.

On the other end of the line came a long silence.

Although Haozi disliked interacting with outsiders, he was talkative with Lu Xining, Lu Nuonuo, and Fu Junhang. Now, though, he felt as if his throat was clogged and couldn’t utter a single word.

Listening to the sound of Lu Xining typing away on her keyboard, Haozi sighed and said, "Sister Ning, stop what you’re doing. The skill of tracing calls—didn’t you learn it from me? How could you possibly locate me?"

"For his safety, I can’t tell you what my relationship with him is, but I promise—I’ve never shared your secrets with him. Please... trust me."

His voice brimmed with guilt, yet he held firm to certain boundaries, refraining from revealing the details of his connection to Shang Lvxing.

Lu Xining understood the implications behind his words all too well.

If forced to choose between her and Shang Lvxing, Haozi would prioritize Shang Lvxing.

Her gaze wandered to a seabird perched on the balcony railing. She softly asked, "Are you safe?"

Haozi was touched by the concern hidden within her question, which caught in his throat.

"I’m very safe."

He uttered each word with extraordinary gravity.

Lu Xining: "That’s good."

The conversation between the two abruptly ended there.

Neither spoke further, neither hung up the call—only the sound of their breathing quietly flowed through the line.

Lu Xining noticed the seabird perched on the balcony railing seemed odd. She put down the phone and walked over to close the sliding door.

As she shut the door, the seabird darted toward her suddenly.

It chirped incessantly.

The transparent sliding door blocked its approach toward Lu Xining. Its prolonged wing-flapping seemed to tire it out, and it turned and flew back to the balcony railing.

Tilting its little head to look at Lu Xining, it reminded her of her daughter.

Every time Nuonuo was puzzled or curious, she would tilt her head and stare at her, accompanied by a bewildered gaze that seemed to spell out the word "why" on her face.

The seabird suddenly picked at its feathers with its beak, revealing a letter concealed among feathers the same color as its plumage.

It stretched out one leg and stamped on the balcony railing, as if to say: Do you see the treasure on me?

Lu Xining’s eyes flickered with uncertainty.

Just as her hand reached the sliding door’s handle, she remembered the call hadn’t been disconnected.

She returned to say two words to Haozi and then ended the call herself.

On the other end of the line, Haozi stared blankly at the phone screen that had gone dark, his whole being submerged in the room’s darkness.

He thought of the years spent with Lu Xining and Lu Nuonuo, during which he felt the long-lost warmth of family from them.

Especially when Little Dumpling hadn’t yet mastered speaking properly. Every time she saw him, she would rush into his arms, rely on him intensely, stick her head out from his embrace, and look into his eyes, saying softly and adorably: "Haozi Uncle, it’s me, Nuonuo."

He began to regret helping his brother investigate the Chu Family’s hidden affairs back then.

If he had known Lu Xining’s ties to the Chu Family earlier, he definitely wouldn’t have acted in this way.

But it wasn’t until he infiltrated the information network of those criminals’ families and uncovered the truth that he understood Lu Xining’s real relationship with the Chu Family.

Even though she bore the surname Lu...

Beside him was another cellphone, which was currently connected to a call with "Shang Lvxing."